Sesame Street Parody skits

[dinoboy]

I've noticed that there are alot of parodies of tv shows, movies that are sometimes featured during the show. Do the people at Sesame Workshop or Kauffman studios get into legal trouble for some of these clips?

 

[Oscarfan]

I don't see why they would. There's nothing illegal about the spoofs they're doing. For the songs, I'm sure they either get permission from the original publishers, or change the melody enough to sound similar to the original song, but making sure it's a different tune entirely.

 

[minor muppetz]

As far as I know, the only time Sesame Workshop got in trouble for a parody was when the owners of the Beatles music sued because of Letter B. But then Michael Jackson bought the rights to the song and dropped the charges. But since it was a parody, I wonder if Sesame Workshop would have won the case.

The show usually only uses the same music as the original if it's performed by the singer of the original.

 

[dinoboy]

I once heard that they got into trouble, as they had once used the background music for the Nintendo videogame Castlevannia for a classic Count Von Count clip.

 

[Drtooth]

Never seen that. Never happened.